Dear Zachary A Letter to a Son About His Father Tagged Articles at Cinematical

One might chalk up a reluctance to cry at the movies to having sat through roughly four hundred of them a year and grown numb to the more melodramatic efforts. And yet I can't say that I've ever been given much cause to shed tears in the theater or at home, even from the earliest years of my moviegoing. I'd be willing to admit it -- heck, I believe that I'm just about to -- but I've just never been one to end up wiping at my cheeks when the lights come up, and yet more and more often, I find myself wondering: Why not?

Are the filmmakers to blame for failing in other respects to elicit tears for these characters and the fates they face? Sometimes. Am I to blame for coming in on guard, waiting for a film to get at me and maybe throwing up some hurdles along the way if there's no lack of trying? Perhaps. Isn't it acceptable to feel something without showing it, and to do so without being labeled a callous bastard? You better believe it.

There's a reason that us critics tend to hold certain films in excessive regard -- because after seeing hundreds and hundreds of them every year, to champion one or two or a dozen across those fifty-two weeks is a chance to bring attention to something that deserves it, something distinctly non-mediocre and perhaps unconventional.

Dear Zachary: a letter to a son about his father falls into that category. Erik praised it effusively from its Slamdance premiere and beyond; soon joining his ranks would be Monika; and it currently lingers second to only one on my own tentative top ten list for 2008. We get it. According to Rotten Tomatoes, 33 out of 34 critics get it. In fact, it seems like the only ones who don't get it just happen to make up the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

There are few films that not only impress you, but rip you out of complacency and compel you to speak out and help -- whether it's for a cause, or merely to encourage more buzz. But even most of those films eventually fall into the dusty halls of the past, seemingly forgotten as new films and motivations arise. That's definitely not so with Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father. Erik and I have been talking about this film all year -- through our reviews, thoughts, continuing news, and the poster. And now you can view the trailer above.

Dear Zachary is a film that should be seen by everyone. The heart-wrenching story it relays is important, but also inspiring. Even in all of the devastation and tragedy there are beacons of positivity and strength that we can all learn from. But we've covered this before. Read up on the film through the links above and please -- go see it.

Update: Dear Zachary arrives in theaters on October 31st in New York and on November 7th in Los Angeles and Chicago, before expanding to other cities. Additionally, you'll be able to catch the entire doc when it airs on MSNBC this December 7th.

Their romance in Titanic was one for the record books. Now Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio are getting to canoodle once again in Revolutionary Road. The above pic is part of the poster for the film, which has popped up over at USA Today. The guy died too quickly last time, and thus we never got to see what the future had in store for Jack and Rose. So now we get Frank and April -- a young, successful couple in the '50s, who move to France and watch things crumble. Man, it's so much more hopeful when they die young. Now this whole ordeal could be sending Winslet right into the world of Erica Jong and Fear of Flying.

Yay! After waiting months for that elusive deal to finalize, The Hollywood Reporter posts that Oscilloscope Pictures has picked up Kurt Kuenne's Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son about His Father. The theatrical release will begin in New York on October 31. Go see it. Please. Don't read anything more. Just go.

In other Big Apple news, Yahoo has got a trailer up for Synecdoche, New York, which I'm dying to see. Besides growing up near Schenectady, where part of the film takes place, it's Charlie Kaufman's directorial debut. And it also has a mind-boggling, a-mazing cast.

Finally a little bit for the rumor hounds -- EW says that now Jude Law might play Dr. Watson in Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes. (Not Colin Farrell or Russell Crowe.) Robert Downey Jr. and Law -- interesting... What do you think?

"...this was one of the best documentaries I have ever watched in my entire life."

The above is part of Erik's review of Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father, a documentary we've been championing here ever since Slamdance in January. It is a stunning doc, one that everyone should see, and we've all been waiting to hear about the release date. Distribution has been in the works since Slamdance, and through my coverage of the film at Hot Docs, but all has been silent on the Zachary front until now.

MSNBC has picked up Dear Zachary. The company is launching a documentary division called MSNBC Films, which will support docs through their theatrical release before screening them on television, and the company is starting with Kurt Kuenne's triumph. Kurt says: "I'm honored and thrilled to be working with MSNBC and their new film division in presenting this film to the world. Their intelligent, socially conscious viewership is exactly the audience for whom I made this film -- the kind of people I hope will speak out for change if they are as outraged as I am by the events they see depicted in the film."

Kurt has also noted that while the theatrical release is still in negotiations, the film is set to air on MSNBC later this fall. And, in order to qualify for Academy Awards consideration, the documentary will screen in New York and Los Angeles at some point in August (we'll let you know when).

I couldn't think of a better documentary to launch a new division, and I cannot stress enough how important it is to see this film. It is challenging and sad, yet full of the kind of heart and strength we could all learn from.

We always champion the documentaries that do their best to separate emotion from filmmaking. While we recognize that a documentary can never be completely unbiased, we praise the films in which a hard-hitting subject can resonate without the director's emotions overtly influencing the portrayal. But I would argue that sometimes that skewed perspective is not only necessary, but required. With Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father, Kurt Kuenne bares his heart and soul. He shows his biased and emotional viewpoint, and that pulls the film out of the realms of the normal documentary and into something infinitely more memorable and inspiring.

*Note: Readers have commented that IMDb has spoilers, so check it out at your own risk!

As Erik Davis noted in his review earlier this year from Slamdance, Dear Zachary is a film to go into with as little knowledge of the story as possible, so like him, I'm continuing the review after the jump. That being said, what follows definitely isn't a spoilerfest. I will remain tight-lipped on many of the twists and turns that the film takes, so if you don't mind learning the basic story, continue on.